Has anyone else in the US seen these new, completely ridiculous commercials promoting high fructose corn syrup? They're made by the Corn Growers' Association or somesuch.

I've seen two versions. In each one person offers the other something laden with HFCS (grape drink--which used to be "sugar, water, purple," but is now "HFCS, water, purple"--or popsicles or something like that) and the offeree is horrified and says "But it has HFCS!" and the offerer patiently explains how HFCS is "nor worse than sugar" and is fine in small doses.

The first time I saw one of these commercials I laughed out loud, thinking it was a spoof commercial.

I still think they're funny, as in absolutely ridiculous. But I also worry that people will see them and think that HFCS is safe, and more similar to sugar than it is. I also think there are some vaguely racist overtones to the commercial with the black mom offering the grape drink and white mom refusing it. (If it's not racist it's at least unoriginal, and Dave Chapelle is way funnier. That link contains swearing, BTW, if you're not familiar with the oeuvre of Dave Chappelle.)

Also, it's just dumb. There are all kinds of things people ingest that are not good for them in large doses (alcohol, sweet, sweet coffee, etc.). But HFCS is not comparable to those things, because there are at least half a dozen easily-obtainable, affordable equivalents that are better for you (sugar, brown sugar, honey, agave nectar, stevia, maple syrup, even regular old corn syrup that's not high fructose). I don't have time to dig up all the sources about why HFCS is so much worse for us than any of those, but there is no doubt that research shows that our bodies just can't process it well.

The website they direct you to is also a big euphemism. Sweet Surprise? Sweet Surrender? Sweet Something-or-other? Sweet Extra-Cellulite-on-Your-Thighs-Because-HFCS-Can't-Be-Broken-Down?

I wanted to bring this up when I first saw the commercials, but now I've gotten five emails about them, so thought you guys would like to talk about them, too. I'm certainly not linking to them in the main post, but if they're up on the web somewhere and someone else wants to link them in the comments so the non-US readers can watch the insanity, go ahead.

The Fine PrintMy expertise is in helping people be who they want to be, with a specialty in how being a parent fits into everything else. I like people. I like parents. I think you're doing a fantastic job. The nitty-gritty of what you do with your kids is up to you, although I'm happy to post questions here to get data points of how you could try approaching different stages, because, let's face it, this shit is hard. As for me, I have two kids who sleep through the night and can tie their own shoes. I've been a married SAHM, a married freelance WAHM, a divorcing WOHM, a divorced WOHM, and now a WAHM again. I'm not buying the Mommy Wars and I'll come sit next to you no matter how you're feeding your kid. When in doubt, follow the money trail. And don't believe the hype.